LesleyScoble.com

I’m proud to be named this week’s Poet of the Week for the W3 Poetry Prompt #169. My prompt invites poets to write a narrative poem — crafted to spark storytelling in any poetry form of the poet’s choice.

Here are the guidelines:
This week, you are the inhabitant of a realm set apart.

Option 1: The Desert Island 🏝️
You’re alone on a desert island. It may be literal—or metaphorical.
Why are you here? What led you to this dilemma? How do you feel, truly? How are you surviving—physically, emotionally, spiritually? What are your hopes? How might you escape? And crucially: do you even want to?
Let solitude shape the rhythm.

Option 2: The Fantasy Castle 🏰
You inhabit a castle—not just any, but one infused with fantasy.
Who are you? Are you a monarch weighed by secrets, a dragon curled beneath the stone, a gargoyle watching centuries unfold, a princess awaiting—or resisting—destiny… or something else entirely?
Your protagonist can be you, he, she, they, or it. Let mystery guide the voice.

I wrote a poem inspired by my second prompt option The Fantasy Castle.. I love fantasy—and I love castles. And where there’s a spooky tower, there’s always a raven. So… enter The Raven of Velrathen Spire! 🐦‍⬛
There’s also a musical companion piece—the song lurks below like a brewing storm, dark and ominous.

The Raven of Velrathen Spire

by Lesley Scoble

The secret mist swirls
round Velrathen Spire—
music floats through an open window,
where a lady
is playing Greensleeves
on a silver lyre.

In the dusk of the dying day,
her raven
stands on watch;
his eyes gleam black—
black as the night that’s on its way.

Shadows slither long grey arms
about the keep,
imprisoning all those within—
and strangling dreams
of unsound sleep.

Lightning strikes Velrathen Spire—
bright copper gleams
spark!
with zig-zag hissing,
fizzing violent fire.

Thunderous roars
chase the fiery blade
and the heavens open—
stabbing rain shafts
down
down
in steely
downpours.

Afraid,
the raven cries
up to the skies—
his voice aloud
with sonorous sighs.
He fears what is to come
and doesn’t like it.

His Lady Bridget
looks through the window,
sharing a smile.
She knows all will be well
in the morning—
when the raven will groan,
and preen his feathers,
perched high through all the weathers,
and she will sing,
and play her lyre…
and the rusted bell 
will ring
from Velrathen Spire.



—Lesley Scoble, July 2025

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Music Audio—I hope you enjoy the song of the poem!

THANK YOU

My gratitude as always to David, The Skeptics Kaddish.
My thanks to Ben Tonkin for choosing me as Poet of the Week for my poem Fantastical Vessel on the Ebon Tide.

My heartfelt thanks to you the reader, for reading / listening to my poem.

To find out more about the W3 Poetry Prompt follow the link below

W3 Prompt #169: Wea’ve Written Weekly